Increased light exposure may make kids overweight

Are you worried for the inappropriate and unfit physical shape of your child? Then there may be the reason that is recently researched and share by the journal PLOS ONE that over exposure to light can increase your child’s weight and definitely will make one fatter.

With the advancing technology, children are more attracted to tablets and smartphones and even MacBooks than their own books and it is leading to big issues the rays of smartphones affect retina of an eye as well as the body shape. Besides these, it is now revealed that increased exposure of light to children may make them overweight.

The new study says that not only due to inactive body of a child, but also due to the exposure of light, over-weighting results.

For metabolic functioning and weight status, timing and intensity of light exposure is critical.

A researcher Cassandra Pattinson from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia said, “Artificial lighting, including light given off by tablets, mobile phones, night lights and television, means modern children are exposed to more environmental light than any previous generation. This increase in light exposure has paralleled global increases in obesity.”

Researches studied the children of average age 3 to 5. They measured children’s activity, sleep and light exposure for a at least two week period, along with height and weight also in order to calculate their body mass index (BMI) and then followed up 12-months later.

During initial measurements, researchers found that moderate intensity of light exposure earlier in the day was associated with increased body mass index while children who received their biggest dose of light ; outdoors and indoors, in the afternoon were slimmer.

At follow-up, those children who were exposed to light at the beginning had higher body mass 12 months later.

“The circadian clock; also known as the internal body clock, is largely driven by our exposure to light and the timing of when that happens. It impacts on sleep patterns, weight gain or loss, hormonal changes and our mood,” Pattinson said.

This research clearly suggests that exposure to different types of light, although artificial or natural, at different times is now needed to be under observation for children.

Earlier, in May last year, a study highlighted a point: How you home could make you fat and encourage you to eat more? It suggested a person to adapt healthy lifestyle and over eating or eating without any limits can lead to obesity and unhealthy life.